Life in the 60s

                The headline made me laugh. It was online, which should have been a tipoff that someone was stupid somewhere, but even for an online headline it was lame.

          “History” the headline read. “James scores 61.”

          LeBron James scored 61 points for the Miami Heat in a game they won Monday. Anytime an NBA player scores 40 points or more they are to be congratulated and when someone scores 50 or more it is a tremendous accomplishment.

          This blog is not critical of LeBron James. He’s the best offensive player in the game today. The criticism here is directed at the nitwit who wrote the “History” headline.

          The fact of the matter is that 22 players scored 60 or more in NBA games before James did so on Monday and many of those players reached 60 points without benefit of the 3-point shot. James’ 61-point night, great as it was, is still 39 short of the all-time single game record.

          If Wilt Chamberlain were alive today, he’d probably say something like, “The first 20 or so times I scored 60 in a game, I was pretty excited, too.”

          Chamberlain scored 60 or more points 32 times. Read that again: Wilt had 60 points or more in 32 games. Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant have done it five times each and Elgin Baylor reached 60 four times. Neither Chamberlain nor Baylor played during the 3-point shot era.

          James’ 61-point game was great stuff, no question. But Chamberlain scored 100 one night. He also had games where he scored 78, 73 (twice), 72 and 70 points. Bryant is second on the single-game list with 81. Remember David Thompson? He had a 73-point game and David Robinson scored 71 in a game.

          Jim Mora, the football coach, would ask about the playoffs. Jordan set the NBA record when he scored 63 in a post season game and Baylor had the old record, 61.

What LeBron James did Monday was the result of a great effort but it was Miami Heat history and little else.

Thanks for reading.